Keneally quits as leader

By Alicia Wood, Natalie O'brien and Tim Barlass

KRISTINA KENEALLY quit as Labor leader last night as she admitted Labor had deserted voters.

''The truth is the people of NSW, who entrusted us with government for 16 years, did not leave us,'' the outgoing premier said.

Kristina Keneally concedes and announces her decision to step down as Labor leader.

Photo: Quentin Jones

''We left them.''

In her concession speech at Randwick Labor Club, Ms Keneally, dressed in black, took responsibility for Labor's dire result.

''I can announce that I will not contest the leadership of the party,'' she said. ''Tonight the Australian Labor Party has suffered a significant loss, there is no hiding from that.''

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She said among the lessons for the party were the ''importance of unity and the importance of putting the people we serve and the principles we hold above all other motivations''.

Part of the renewal that pundits say Labor needs so desperately is another new leader.

After the dust settles, Blacktown candidate John Robertson is expected to become opposition leader.

His electorate, a Labor heartland, has been held by the Liberal Party only once in 70 years.

With close to 70 per cent of the vote counted last night, Mr Robertson looked set to win Blacktown despite a swing against him of more than 18 per cent. He attracted about 45 per cent of the primary vote, compared to the Liberals' Karlo Siljeg with 36 per cent.

Mr Robertson knows that winning his seat means more to the party than an extra voice in opposition.

He was cautious yesterday as he handed out how-to-vote flyers with his wife and two sons. ''I have been doing 14 to 16 hours a day pretty much since the middle of January. There is nothing more that we could have done in this campaign.''

In Coogee, ousted Labor MP Paul Pearce, who lost his seat in Sydney's east to Liberal Bruce Notley-Smith, said the government would have won had it not pursued the privatisation of some electricity assets. He said the party's problems began when former treasurer Michael Costa floated the idea of privatising those assets.

When Bob Carr made history on March 22 in 2003 by winning a third four-year term, a crowd chanted ''We want Bob'' as the then premier took the stage to claim victory.

Last night the Labor Party made history for an entirely different reason, although senior Labor figures in some key seats appeared to be staging a fight.

''Carmel [Tebbutt], Verity [Firth], John Robertson, Michael Daley, Kevin Greene, David Borger, Nathan Rees, these are senior figures who are still in there with a chance,'' Labor campaign spokesman Luke Foley told the ABC.

''Steve Whan in Monaro is a chance, partly because the toxic politics in Sydney, the Sydney media, is not reflected in Monaro.''

Coalition campaign spokeswoman Gladys Berejiklian agreed. ''A lot of the Labor ministers are holding up in their seats,'' said Ms Berejiklian, the Liberal MP for Willoughby.

Mr Foley said the statewide swing to the Liberal and National parties was not being repeated in the inner city to the Greens. But he said the future was not looking good for Labor.

In her speech, Ms Keneally thanked her husband Ben and looked to him for support as she held back tears.

Through the day yesterday, traditionally safe Labor seats were under pressure and candidates who had enjoyed years of popularity accepted it was a difficult election.